This invention relates to a hockey stick and more particularly to a hockey stick used by a goaltender or goalkeeper in the sport of ice hockey.
Sticks used by hockey players other than the goalkeeper are very similar, and their construction and design have not changed much over the years, being regulation by governing bodies such as the National Hockey League. The standard ice hockey stick is a piece of equipment used in ice hockey to shoot, pass, and carry the puck. Ice hockey sticks are approximately 65 inches long, composed of a long, slender shaft with a flat extension at one end called the blade. The blade is the part of the stick used to contact the puck, and is typically 15.5 inches long. Stick dimensions can vary widely, as they are usually built to suit a particular player's size and preference. The blade is positioned at roughly a 135° angle from the axis of the shaft, giving the stick a partly ‘L-shaped’ appearance. The shaft of the stick is fairly rigid, but it has some flexibility to benefit some shots. Also, the blade may be slightly curved in one direction, to aid in retaining or lifting the puck off the playing surface. This can be to the left or right, depending on the player's preference.
Most currently know sticks used by a goalkeeper are formed with a straight shaft attached to the center of a widened portion of the stick called a paddle. The paddle has a heel portion where it is joined to the blade, giving the hockey stick its somewhat L-shape. The goalkeeper has a slightly modified stick from the standard stick used by the other players. The lower part of the stick is wider, the angle is smaller, and the blade is slightly curved towards the direction of the play. According to NHL rules, the blade of the goalkeeper's stick cannot exceed three and one-half inches (3½″) in width at any point except at the heel, where it must not exceed four and one-half inches (4½″) in width; nor can the goalkeeper's stick exceed fifteen and one-half inches (15½″) in length from the heel to the end of the blade. The widened portion of the goalkeeper's stick extending up the shaft from the blade ranges from 22 inches to 32 inches and can be not more that 3.5 inches in width.
The prior art discloses other inventions that have modified hockey goalkeeper sticks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,463, (Dolan), describes a notched handgrip formed along a length of the shaft at a position between the widened shaft portion and the handle portion. However, this design constricts movement of the goalkeeper's hand along the shaft due to the ribbed handgrips on the shaft handle. In Dolan, the fingered handgrip prevents the hand from flowing smoothly along the shaft and does not allow sufficient space for clearance of the goalkeeper's gloved hand, which, together with the knob on the end of the shaft, prevents the shaft and paddle from laying horizontally on the playing surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,157 (Curtis) describes a goalkeeper's hockey stick having a bent shaft that can rest flush against the surface of the playing surface. Such a design, however, is impractical because the goalkeeper is unable to grip his or her fingers around the upper portion of the shaft while the stick is resting flush against the playing surface.